Left-Handed Last Resort

　This is reprinted from a doujin book I made around four years ago.

　You ever bought a novelization of an bishoujo game? Probably not!

　I mean, if you just play the original game, you get the art, the voice acting, and the music too. Plus, novelizations usually have to condense everything into a single volume, meaning fewer heroines and heavily compressed scenarios. Honestly, unless you’ve got a very specific reason, you’re better off just playing the original.

　But I actually read a lot of them. I like seeing the subtle differences from the source material, and I enjoy how the prose format can make the protagonist’s inner thoughts feel more delicate and detailed. Some novelizations even attempt things the original never could. For example, the novel adaptation of Satomura Akane’s route from ONE is told entirely from the heroine’s perspective. You get to watch the emotional process of a beloved bishoujo heroine gradually falling in love with the protagonist, and it almost feels like a shoujo manga.

　There are others too. The now absurdly rare novel version of CARNIVAL is basically a sequel consisting entirely of post-game material. It costs tens of thousands of yen now, though I own a pristine copy myself — because the publisher directly gave it to me. The novel version of Suki Suki Daisuki! is, in my opinion, actually more immersive than the original game. And the novelization of Shizuku was written by Kingeturyuunosuke, aka Yamada Orochi — the same person who later wrote 101 Ways to Commit Suicide. Pure madness colliding with pure madness.

　But if someone asked me what the most insane bishoujo game novelization ever made was, I’d answer without hesitation: Left-Handed Last Resort.

　Most bishoujo game fans have probably never even heard that title before. Makes sense — because there isn’t actually a game called Left-Handed Last Resort. Its nominal source material is a bishoujo game called Puni☆Fugo~. A pretty standard retro lolita-style eroge full of cute girls, where you play Daifugō card games to unlock H-scenes. The mechanics had a little depth to them, but ultimately it was the kind of old-school game where “play the minigame, get the sex scene” was the whole structure. Left-Handed Last Resort is the novelization of that game. Originally it even carried the subtitle “Puni Fugo EX,” though later editions quietly removed it. That’s how tenuous the connection became.

　You don’t actually need to play the original game, but it’s important to keep in mind that this book does originate from a bishoujo game. In the novel, the cute, loli-styled characters from Puni☆Fugo~ return reimagined with realistic proportions. Naturally, it goes all-in on fanservice too, complete with H-scenes for everyone — but if that were all it offered, there’s no way the obi would be calling it a “legendary eccentric book.”

　Because of author Umineko Zawameron’s background in design, the page layouts themselves — even details hidden in the gutters and margins — amplify the text’s unsettling atmosphere. The beautiful illustrations by Kinohitoshi are perfect as well. From page one, you’re assaulted by one deranged development after another, completely unimaginable from the original game’s cute and harmless tone.

　I think once someone’s worked on bishoujo games even a single time, they eventually develop the urge to completely blindside the jaded otaku who think they’ve seen it all. This book absolutely demolishes the conventions of so-called nukige, while simultaneously giving the reader an entirely new perspective on them. It’s a miracle that could only exist because it was built atop something as generic and disposable as Puni☆Fugo~. If Left-Handed Last Resort had existed by itself, it wouldn’t work. Just like how Muv-Luv Alternative could never exist without Muv-Luv first existing. Only after going through the experience of making a completely ordinary nukige can someone create a bizarre masterpiece capable of obliterating the entire genre from within.

　I genuinely respect Umineko Zawameron from the bottom of my heart. I’ll never forget them buying one of my doujin books at Bunfree. I’d love to hand them this very doujinshi too someday. Though honestly… having someone else dissect your insane past like this might be unbearably embarrassing.